Crazy, Sexy Hot: LGBT-Recommended & Approved Netflix Summer Rentals

Popcorn? Milk Duds? Edamame, anyone?

This summer at Netflix, it’s the Summer of LGBTQ Love.

The streaming movie monolith’s original production “Orange Is The New Black” (movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Orange_Is_the_New_Black) has tongues wagging and has acquired brand new insta-fans who are already craving the next season, even while they rave about the first one watching every single episode from back to back.

Netflix is host to myriad gems, treasures and sparkly cinematic jewels that can take a bit of searching to uncover, and that represent queer culture in many iterations from the sublime to the “ridonkulous.” (Hat-tip to RuPaul for this clever turn of phrase). A quick and easy search uncovered some of the selections below, but to find exotic, rare and valued goodies, you’ll have to spend a little quality time at the Netflix search engine, reverse engineer a search at Google, or subscribe to Hacking Netflix or similar.

You’ll find a few ever-so-lovely viewing recommendations below.

Not a Netflix subscriber? Take heart: if these movie delights are available there, you’ll probably also be able to find many of them at Amazon.com, iTunes, YouTube Premium, Hulu or your local rental stop.

Summer (Rental) Lover Recommendations

Margaret Cho: Beautiful – A heartwarmingly cray-cray comedienne, actress, self-confessed “trans* chaser,” and queer in-community advocate. Her comedic set is funny, surreal, challenging, and strong overall. Cho’s comedy shows are forever a don’t-miss-’em situation. movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Margaret_Cho_Beautiful

Red Without Blue   This documentary explores the lives of identical twins Mark and Alex Farley as they come to terms not only with their homosexuality, but also with Alex’s decision to transition from male to female. We witness challenges in the film, and both have since fully come into their own (according to blog posts and news updates). Their bravery shines here and reminds you to summon up your own courage in the tougher times.   http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Red_Without_Blue

Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement This love story spans 42 years, and its echos still reverberate today. In fact, we wrote a little something about them, too (http://gayagenda.com/?s=edie+windsor). Check out the movie here: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Edie_Thea_A_Very_Long_Engagement

Chely Wright: Wish Me Away  This poignant documentary, filmed over three years, profiles country music star Chely Wright (http://gayagenda.com/tag/chely-wright), and her spiritual coming out journey.  In the film, we see her succeed in the music business while hiding her homosexuality from her conservative family and fans. As our articles detail, she’s doing great now, too. http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Chely_Wright_Wish_Me_Away

Outrage This movie will surprise you. Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick sets out to expose the hypocrisy of gay politicians who passionately criticize the LGBT community in public while concealing their own sexual orientation in private. It IS outrageous. http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Outrage

And because it’s available for streaming (but not at Netflix), here’s one last great one:

Noah’s Arc – SGL African American men are the series’ main creators and main stars. To date, there’s been nothing like this dramedy series—it’s utterly captivating and addictive. You’ll want to watch the whole series, and the accompanying movie before it’s removed from freebie streaming channels. There are many charming scenes and many NSFW scenes, ‘natch. Careful, now….  http://www.logotv.com/shows/noahs_arc/series.jhtml

There’s much, much more where that came from: you can find Alan Cumming’s breakout drama “Any Day Now,” “Small Town Gay Bar,” “Chasing Amy,” “Brokeback Mountain” and other curated selections by visiting Netflix’s “Gay and Lesbian” category page here.  http://movies.netflix.com/WiGenre?agid=5977

What’s your favorite movie?